In Debt at 50 Part Two

I'm going to try to blog daily to keep myself accountable and hopefully find hope and peace with my journey out of debt. Yesterday, I blogged how I handled money as a youth all the way up to when everything turned upside down. Read part one here.  

 In 2017 after seven of my clients had some type of life issues, I decided to find a part-time job so I can get a paycheck every two weeks. Finding personal training and instructors jobs that pay well these days, isn't an easy task. I applied to one famous gym and they start you off at $6 for a 30-minute training session, so two clients back to back would be $12 an hour. This was not enough for me to pay down my debt. I eventually found a job that pays me 22.00 an hour. 

 With this new job, the pay is good and I can work full-time is it were possible but the clientele doesn't sustain a constant roster of clients. They will train with you for one month or even three at the max but eventually they stop training. Again, I have a variable income and if it weren't for the group fitness classes, I teach five a week, I couldn't count on it to give me a decent paycheck.

 At the end of 2016, I applied for chapter 13 bankruptcy. I could not apply for chapter 7 because the total house income was too high. A chapter 13 is basically a repayment plan to your creditors. It was fine at the beginning because I paid $900 a month, however in 2018, it shot up to $1700 a month. My husband's income went up and he repaid an outstanding loan. I could not handle the $1700 a month so I had to drop out of the program.

 I am back to repaying the debt by myself. Between the time the bankruptcy was being dismissed, I was able to save some money and I paid off two creditors this month.

 Citibank line of credit: owed $989 paid $598 at 60 cents on the dollar
Illinois state taxes: owed $1051 paid $1051

 The problem right now is the car loan. There is a lien on the car and they want $575 a month and I owe $10,300. They won't bring down the monthly payments. I'm going to ask my sister for a loan and hopefully, she will let me do that with monthly payment at $350 a month. My husband told me I should ask her even though I hate to ask for money. I am also ashamed of my predicament.

 The car payment and the IRS payments are my biggest concerns right now. If I can't get the IRS to drop their monthly payments from $1000 a month to $500, I might have to apply for chapter 13 again. Hopefully, I will be able to pay off another bill before that and that may bring down my total monthly payments.

 Tomorrow, all about my side hustles and what I'm trying to do to bring in extra money.  Are you also going through a tough time right now?

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